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Synopsis

The sky darkened as in the middle of a summer thunderstorm. Millions of birds had taken to the air after the first shell had landed on the tiny island of Lava Rock of Tori-shima. Yes, the sky darkened from gooney birds and terns that were nesting on the rocky prominence you could hardly call an island. The birds circled our ships in their vast multitudes and continued as our ships continued to shell the rocky shore. Shell after shell exploded in a shower of smoke and debris, with huge flames reaching the sky. The noise from the shelling was deafening. We were invading this tiny island that reputedly had many Japs on it, so the bombardment continued for an hour. Now we were ready to invade the rock, so we loaded our amtracs and slogged away from the LST as the ramp was let down into the sea.